Absolutely. And the licensing had better be cheap for new entrants to the market.
The important implication of stories like this is not "Giant Company #1 may be hampered by Giant Company #2's intellectual property."
Rather, it's "somewhere, someone who could make the Next Big Thing has just read this and decided not to bother, since making any device with a screen and menus and network access would probably get you sued."
This is exactly the opposite of what intellectual property (at least in the U.S.) is for: "To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts".
Comments
Absolutely. And the licensing had better be cheap for new entrants to the market.
The important implication of stories like this is not "Giant Company #1 may be hampered by Giant Company #2's intellectual property."
Rather, it's "somewhere, someone who could make the Next Big Thing has just read this and decided not to bother, since making any device with a screen and menus and network access would probably get you sued."
This is exactly the opposite of what intellectual property (at least in the U.S.) is for: "To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts".